Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 59, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 7, 1999Chambers County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1999, 3:23 PM CDT for Chambers County, Alabama. It was in force for 32 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 7, 1999, 3:23 PM CDT (20:23 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1999, 3:55 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Chambers County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:25 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 7, 2:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 97 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 362 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 564 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

999 
WFUS1 KBHM 072026 RRA
TORBHM
ALC017-072055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
323 PM CDT FRI MAY 7 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED...A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN CHAMBERS COUNTY... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 355 PM CDT.

* AT 321 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING
OVER THE EASTERN PART OF CHAMBERS COUNTY BETWEEN LAFAYETTE AND WEST
POINT DAM.  THE STORM IS LIKELY PRODUCING A TORNADO.  FUNNEL CLOUD AND
WALL REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS STORM.
THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST TO NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL AFFECT THE WEST POINT DAM AREA.  THIS EXTENDS THE
PREVIOUS WARNING FOR THIS COUNTY.

GO TO THE BASEMENT...OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 7, 10:09 AM CDT, 5 hours 14 minutes before

ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-080300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1009 AM CDT FRI MAY 7 1999

THE WEAK FRONT ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE WILL START TO
MOVE EASTWARD TODAY AND ALLOW MOST OF THE RAIN TO GO WITH IT. OVER THE
REST OF STATE THERE IS ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A THUNDERSTORM TODAY
AND NO ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL
NOT BE NECESSARY.  THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHWEST
ALABAMA... SEE PRODUCT BHMSPSMOB. FOR SOUTHEAST ALABAMA... LOOK AT
MIASPSTLH.  FOR MORE WEATHER INFORMATION VISIT OUR INTERNET SITE ON
THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT
HTTP://WWW.ACESAG.AUBURN.EDU/DEPARTMENT/NWS/

The office that day

Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 1:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Autauga, Elmore	32 min
May 7, 1:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	32 min
May 7, 1:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Coosa	32 min
May 7, 1:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Elmore	36 min
May 7, 1:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	50 min
May 7, 2:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	32 min
May 7, 2:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	49 min
May 7, 2:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	35 min
May 7, 3:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	31 min
May 7, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	32 min
May 7, 6:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lee	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.